


50 Days of Prompts

by PostApocolypticAlien (orphan_account)



Category: The X-Files
Genre: 50 cliche prompts, Cliche prompts, F/M, Tumblr list, a prompt a day butnotreally
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 10,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25041250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/PostApocolypticAlien
Summary: Prompts taken from a prompt list that I intend to work my way through.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 35
Kudos: 121





	1. 1. there's people chasing us and i pulled you into an alley with me and wow you're close

**Author's Note:**

> Ideally this would be a prompt a day but it's going four prompts per week. I found a list of prompts from Tumblr and decided to make my way through it in order. There's 50 hence the title.

Their hearts beat in rhythm together, adrenaline pumping through both their bodies.

Not often do they need to run. Often their running towards the suspect, not being the suspects themselves but sometimes the X-Files call for a little trespassing now and then.

Only this time they got caught. They hadn’t meant to. Just a little peak, Mulder promised Scully but then his jacket had gotten stuck on the fence and next minute there’s a flashlight shining directly at him, people shouting, coming at them and the sound of a gunshot. Mulder’s only coherent thought was to run. He grabbed Scully’s hand and they ran.

They were on their tail, an open area with streetlights baring down on them, there was no way out. No way out but an alley so Mulder had hauled him and Scully into this alley and pressed her tightly against the wall whilst the people had ran past them on the wiser.

And now, as their hearts slowed, the adrenaline leaves, Mulder realises his body is flushed with Scully’s. When he looks down their breaths mingle as they huff and puff in time with each other. She’s so close he can smell the lingering affects of her perfume and the heady scent of her natural body odour. He’s been in her personal space before but not like this and not after they’ve nearly just been shot by a rifle.

The street is quiet, the hour contributing to that. It’s wet and muggy, a dark and dirty alleyway, and Scully’s tongue skimming over her top lip whilst her eyes look impossibly blue.

And maybe it’s because he’s nearly just died, maybe it’s because it’s been five years of pretending he doesn’t really feel anything for her- that she doesn’t feel anything more than friendship back. Or maybe it’s because she’s looking at him with the exact same thoughts that he leans down and presses his mouth against hers with the vigour of a near-death experience and five years of pining.


	2. 2. your shirt/jumper was in the laundry pile and i couldn't help but steal it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to do something a little bit different with this prompt and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Writing this was fairly smooth actually which is always a bonus. It can take place in whatever season you feel like :)

He asks her to grab a folder out from his suitcase when she sees it. Fuzzy grey and poking out between a pair of boxers and a spare work shirt (because Mulder can’t organise a suitcase to save his life)

Scully places the folder on the bed and reaches down to pull the jumper out of the case. It’s been washed since she last saw it, smelling of Mulder’s laundry detergent and she resists the urge to stuff her face into it, to smell the scent. Instead she opts for:

“What is this?”

Mulder looks up from his laptop, to the grey jumper she’s holding out. Guilt passes across his face as he purses his lip together. He looks down and gives her his best puppy expression- the one he knows always makes her melt no matter what mood she’s in.

“I was going to give it back,” he explains. “It’s why it was in the suitcase. Why I brought it with me.”

Scully smiles slightly and looks down towards the jumper. She felt it at his apartment one extremely rainy weekend when they had gone on a little trip and got absolutely soaking wet because that doofus over there hadn’t checked the weather beforehand.

She had taken the jumper off, thrown it in with Mulder’s laundry when he’d promised her he would dry it for her and have it back to her next Monday. She’d worn one of his t-shirts while they watched a movie and promptly gone home wearing it. She wasn’t intending on giving it back, though.

Maybe Mulder had the same idea.

“Do you like this jumper, Mulder?” she asks still staring at it. She looks up to see Mulder nod.

Without much thought, she throws it towards him where it lands squarely at his chest and slides down into his lap.

He gives her a confused look.

“Keep it,” she says giving him a coy smile. “I’ve got plenty more.”

Besides, he’ll be less mad that she stole his t-shirt.


	3. i'm dying and i'm confessing my love to you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during Monday. I didn't want to properly kill off anyone so as much as I hated this episode it was fitting for this prompt.

They always believed they would die on the job. She always believed she would die on the job. The abduction, the various kidnappings, the random military involvement, they were all part of the job, even her cancer was because of her job. They were supposed to die on the job.

Instead, Mulder lies on the cold bank floor, his shirt open, her hands bloody, and a gunshot wound to his abdomen.

It’s not supposed to happen here, Scully angrily thinks as she tries to stanch the bleeding. There’s blood everywhere; on the floor, on her, on him.

It’s not supposed to happen here.

She glares up at the man, this bank robber who has caused this pain to both of them, and starts pleading.

“Please, you have to let me get in out…”

But it’s no use. This man is insane. It doesn’t matter if they’re federal agents, it doesn’t matter if they’re people, he’s not letting them go.

“Scully…” Mulder’s hand his grabbing towards her own, his weak voice forcing her to look at him. He’s tired, his eyes barely staying open, skin pale. He’s dying, she thinks.

“Scully, I love you,” he says and it only brings tears to her eyes, tears that she can’t control as she weeps over him, drops falling onto his face.

His hand has reached hers now, holding the top of hers. She can feels him ease the pressure but she doesn’t want him to. He looks at her, telling her that it’ll be okay, that he’s okay to go now, and she wants to scream and cry loudly for as long as she wants without an audience.

She presses down harder on the wound, tears now falling furiously. She’ll keep him alive, she has to.


	4. kissing in the rain and getting soaked before running inside laughing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been changed slightly to accommodate the laughing.

A broken down car, ruined heels, a shirt that’s becoming more see-through by the minute.

Rain falls down in heavy drops, they’re both soaked to the bone and Scully is unimpressed, scowling whilst raindrops fall off her lashes.

A five minute walk has them drenched.

Mulder looks over to her, sees her unhappy expression, and smiles.

What the hell does he have to smile for?

His eyes glance around and, naturally, Scully’s does the same. There’s nobody around and too right, they look like idiots standing out in the rain.

Mulder walks towards her, reaches for her hand to pull her close. A puddle splashes into her shoe, a surge of cold running around her feet but she has no time to react as Mulder’s lips descend upon hers.

The idiot, she thinks. Her resolve weakening as she melts into the warmth. The cold rain falling down on her, his warm kiss running through her.

He pulls away, still smiling.

“Sorry,” he says bashfully. “I’ve always wanted to do that and you looked so grumpy and wet- it was adorable.”

She punches him in the arm, frowning but not really meaning it. Mulder laughs, rubbing his arm in pretend and grabs her hand again.

“Come on,” he says, pulling her close to him. “the sooner we can get in the shower.” His smile is suggestive and it’s Scully’s turn to laugh.

“Then what did you stop for?” she asks, pulling him along as they run the rest of the way to the apartment.


	5. playing with their hair while their head's in your lap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during The End.

The X-Files have been closed, they’re getting reassigned. They won.

Scully looks back at Mulder, seeing how numb and dejected he looks.

_He didn’t even ask about the X-Files. His first thoughts where about Diana. Why wasn’t I ever your first thought, Mulder? Why was it the X-Files then me, but it’s not for Diana?_

She has no idea whether to cry in pain or scream in anger at that. Instead, she tampers down her jealousy, tries to remind herself that Diana has done no wrong.

But she did do wrong. She showed up.

Scully sighs, moving from the desk chair to the empty space on the couch. Immediately as she sits Mulder is there, leaning against her before slipping down her body to rest his head on her lap, curling himself into a ball.

And God, does she hate this. Hates being the person who will do.

But she loves it, too. Loves how she’s the only one he’ll sought any comfort from, a touch of their hands, falling into her embrace, curling into her.

Her fingers tangle mindlessly in his hair, stroking and combing through it. She hears a faint sigh emit out of Mulder’s mouth and stares out of the window to the rain that falls down.

Fitting.

She wonders where they’ll be assigned. Will they keep them together? She hopes so, she doesn’t want to leave him in whatever state this will leave him in, when the numbness passes she wants to be there in any way she needs to be.

They’ll be punished. They’ve done nothing wrong but there’s a consequence coming for them, Scully can feel it.

The phone rings, startling them both. It kickstarts something, some realisation. Scully’s hands pull away from Mulder’s hair like she’s been burned, Mulder pulls away from Scully like she’s ice.

Neither answer the phone, they just stare at each other breathing in and out in rhythm. Good news? Bad news? Maybe there was another meeting and they’ve been fired altogether.

Finally, Scully answers the phone.

The office is on fire.


	6. jolting awake after a nightmare and being comforted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the run.

It’s the same dream he’s head for years; The magician, a game of Stratego, bright lights, FOX!, and the same scared little boy watching as a 40 year old man.

Only things are slightly different; William replaces Samantha, Dad! replaces Fox!

But it’s not supposed to be like that. That’s wrong. He’s reaching out, trying to grab his son before smoke whisks him away.

_Mulder! Mulder! Mulder!_

Mulder jolts awake. It takes him a moment to remember his surroundings. It’s dark, his eyes need to adjust and when they do he recognises the motel room.

And when he turns to his left he sees Scully. Scully with her darker, longer hair. Scully with concern written all over her face and when he looks down he sees her hand holding his arm, when he looks down he can feel it.

He’s in a motel room with Scully on the run.

“Are you okay?” she asks still worried.

Mulder smiles, takes her hand from his upper arm and kisses it. Keeping tight hold of it he lays back down, mutters.

“It was just a dream.”

And snuggles into her, breathing her in, reminding himself that it was just a dream. William is safe, away from all those who can harm him. He and Scully are okay.

It was just a dream.


	7. good morning, beautiful/handsome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season of Secret Sex.

He’s been awake for some time now, cursed with insomnia and being a morning person.

He moved once to go to the bathroom and immediately came right back to this bed careful not to wake the body sleeping beside him.

She’s adorable when she sleeps; one hand tucked under the pillow, an arm thrown across her face, covers right up to her chin. Mulder found out any moons ago that she sleeps diagonally, her legs twisting between his. They’re doing it now, her cold bare feet seeking the warmth from his calves.

He glances at the clock, knows he should wake her up, they both need to shower and Scully still insists on driving separately. Mulder understands but people have been thinking they’ve been sleeping together for years, they’re not going to care if they find out they actually do but he cuts her some slack, takes what he can get when he can get it and doesn’t complain.

What has he really got to complain about anyway? Here she is, asleep in his bed, she hasn’t ran off.

The arm covering her face moves, her nose scrunches and Mulder has seen that nose scrunch enough times to know she’s waking her.

He watches her as she does so, eyes blinking open, looking around, taking in the surroundings. She yawns, stretches, licks her lips, and snuggles back down into the covers.

Unlike Mulder Scully is not a morning person.

But she’s awake…kind of and Mulder moves in closer, presses a kiss to the tip of her nose and whispers.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

She’s awake enough to blush and tuck her chin under, a bashful smile flittering across her lips.

“I’ve always wanted to say that,” he admits feeling a little shy himself.

“You’re so sappy,” she jokingly complains and turns over. Mulder only uses it as an excuse to be the big spoon, his arms enclosing around her, pulling her against him. He kisses her shoulder, her neck, breathing her in and snuggling into her warm as she lets out her own sighs.

“Only for you, though.”


	8. hands brushing unexpectedly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never Again.

She pulls her hand away almost immediately, the touch seeming to burn her. If Mulder notices he makes no note of it, just takes the pen and places it back in the pot with all the others.

Scully never thought the day would come when she didn’t want him touching her but after their argument, his silent, judgemental, slut shaming eyes looking at her she didn’t want him anywhere near her, let alone touching her.

But, alas, they were partners, cursed and blessed to work with each other in a basement office apparently too small to fit in another desk, to fit another name plate on the door, to fit her into this quest.

So she takes her files, her own pens, and heads to her area to sit in silence, the tension palpable.


	9. there's only one bed and we sleep as far away as possible from each other but wake up cuddling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rain King.

She’s not happy with this arrangement at all. She’s still unhappy with him (or tries to be). Flouting protocol, running after X-Files, running after Diana only to go back to herself with his tail tucked between his legs when Diana has shunned him and hurt his feelings.

(She hates herself for always welcoming him back with band-aids that never stay on and kisses that never soothe)

“Slumber party, Scully!” Mulder cries joyfully as he brings his suitcase into her motel room.

Scully had asked the manager again if they had a spare cot and that answer had, once again, been a no.

“What’s wrong?” he asks noticing her sour expression as he flops down on his side of the bed.

(his side- she’s already thinking of it as his side)

Scully unfolds her arms and sighs. “It’s against the rules, Mulder.” Yes, good, Bureaucratic policies as an excuse, you don’t need to admit anything.

Mulder just shrugs. “They don’t need to know. Besides, they can barely blame _me_ for a cow falling through my roof.”

No, but they can blame you for not just booking another room.

“You wouldn’t have had a cow fall through your roof if we hadn’t stayed here.”

It was his idea after all.

“Scully.”

“What?” she asks with a look.

“I’m here now, my stuff has been moved. Why not just sleep on the bed?”

She looks towards the bathroom, comtemplates just taking her pillow and the spare blanket and sleeping in the tub.

Mulder follows her eyeline.

“I’ll stay a professional distance apart. Me on my side, you on your side then nobody has to sleep in the tub.”

The tub would be uncomfortable and it’s her bed if anyone should be sleeping in the tub it’s him.

But Mulder doesn’t look like he’s about to move any time soon.

So Scully resigns herself to her fate, grabs her toiletries and pyjamas and goes into the bathroom to change. When she exits, Mulder is already under the covers.

“Now remember Scully,” he tells her as she nears the bed and climbs into it. “Keep your hands to yourself, I know what you’re like.”

It’s all in jest but it just makes her feel gloomy. You don’t want me to touch you anyway, I’m not Diana.

She lies down as Mulder switches off the light and stares up at the ceiling, her body too aware of Mulder a “professional distance” away from her. She wonders how much sleep she’ll even get tonight.

“Scully?”

Looks like somebody else can’t sleep either.

“Yes.”

“Do you miss working on the X-Files. Properly, I mean.”

“Well…” Scully starts, she’s found herself wondering this as well. “I guess I missed the way it challenged me.” You challenged me, Mulder. You always made me fight so hard to be right. She’s about to ask him if he misses it but catches herself, she already knows that answer.

“Yeah,” Mulder agrees almost seeming to answer her unasked question. “It definitely beats the background checking, load of manure, doesn’t it?”

She finds herself chuckling at that. How easy it is to be with him when the lights are off and there’s nobody home.

“Yeah, it does.”

They both sigh in unison, Scully realising it and cutting hers short. They’ve always been in sync with each other, even when they were seconds away from ripping each other’s throats apart.

“Goodnight Scully,” Mulder says before she hears a shift in the bed and Mulder turning over.

“Night Mulder,” she says back, more quietly than he did and turns on her side, facing away from him.

She shuts her eyes and wills her body to forget his presence.

.:.:.:.:.

There’s warmth surrounding her, something hard pushing into her lower back. Has she fallen asleep next to her books again?

She goes to move them out of the way, her hand going behind her when her fingers hit a bone, soft flesh, a body.

_A body._

Her eyes shoot open. When she looks down, a hand is tucked between her breasts, arms encasing her.

She can smell him, hear him breathing behind her and it suddenly dawns on her that the hard thing pressing into her isn’t a book.

It’s Mulder.

There’s a sudden pool of heat below at the realisation and she chides herself for it almost immediately, thinks of Diana and her hands all over him, claiming him as her own.

It works and she wants to get away from him, needs to get away from him.

She tries to move the arm that’s trapping her as slowly so as not to wake him but the movement just causes him to wrap his arms tighter around her.

“Stay,” he says.

“Mulder?” The word has her wondering if he’s awake, if he’s doing this deliberately as a joke.

Ha-ha, this is so funny Mulder. He probably thinks she’s Diana.

“Scullee…” She freezes. Nope, no definitely not Diana.

“Don’t go.”

She turns her head, determined to see if he is awake and if this is just one big joke. She only manages so far but it’s enough, she can see his face, see his eyes closed.

He’s dreaming, she realises. Dreaming about her.

“I’m sorry…” he continues and she stops trying to get away, settles back and listens. “The bee…It’s a monster, it’s trying to take you away. Scully.”

You dream about bees too, Mulder? Only her bee dreams are different, they involve aliens growing inside bodies and shadowy men who hide behind smoke.

“I’ll do better, Scully.” He’s speaking again and she listens.

“I won’t let him take you, not again, never again.”

His arms tighten around her periodically and she wonders how many other dreams does he have that are like this? Does he clutch at pillows, is he thinking he’s clutching at pillows, not realising he has the real thing in his arms and she’s not going anywhere, not anymore.

“You’re mine,” he whispers finally. She feels his lips ghost across the back of her neck, where her scar and the implant still lies.

You’re not mine though, are you, Mulder?


	10. Secret Relationship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season of Secret Sex? All things?

He could die here right now and be happy that he made it this far, his face pressed into Scully’s bare chest, her soft skin beneath his fingers and Scully’s own fingers running soothingly through his hair, lulling him to sleep in the afterglow.

He could die and he wouldn’t complain.

All this dreams coming true in one night, all his wishes being granted.

Scully loves him. Showed him how much she loved him, trusted him with her body and he hopes to anyone who would listen that he did okay, that she’ll trust him with it again, again, again.

He nuzzles her skin, under her breast where he knows a freckle resides. So many freckles, all over her body, he would’ve stopped and counted all of them had Scully not tugged at him.

“If we’re to do this thing…”

Mulder’s ears pique up at the sound of her voice. She sounds awake, sounds like she’s been thinking.

He snuggles into her, peppers kisses on the parts of her body he can reach, telling her to not overthink this. Please don’t overthink this.

“I don’t want anyone to know.”

At first he considers it a loss. How amazing it would feel to stalk around the Hoover Building with everyone knowing Scully was his- that she chose him and not some stuck-up bastard on the 5th floor with a seaview.

But then he considers it. In many ways, their relationship was always secret. People could assume and speculate but they would never understand, even if they saw it with their own eyes. This was something between them, they didn’t need to announce it to the world.

He rests his chin on her torso, smiles and says.

“If that’s what you want.”

She looks down at him, her own little smile across her face, her eyes sleepy.

“That’s okay with you?” she asks sounding unsure.

He turns so his cheek is pressing against her body, cuddles her tighter.

“Anything is okay as long as I get to be with you, Scully.”

She makes a contented little sound and Mulder shuts his eyes, inhaling her scent, so happy he could die.


	11. we dated in highschool and then you moved away but now you're back in town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative Universe...obviously.

Long distance hadn’t worked.

4,000 miles was a very long distance and the thirty minute phone calls they would have, and the photos- oh god the photos!- were amazing and fantastic and possibly the highlight of his week but she wasn’t there, wasn’t there to touch, to see every day, to even speak to every day.

And he had fucked it up, good old fashioned Mulder style. With the next new girl in town. A girl called Diana Fowley.

And that had been the end of that.

Someone found out and someone told Scully and then she stopped with the phone calls, and the photos, and even the letters in her pretty little Catholic school handwriting, and that had been that. Relationship over.

Three years later and he still felt like an ass for it.

Three years later and he’s going to college and he’s going to college, they both are going to college, in the same state.

“I’m sorry for what happened,” he finally gets to say. For three years he wanted to say it. He said it on their last phone call but Scully hadn’t wanted to hear it.

She smiles sadly now, three years older, hair shorter.

“I know.” She looks down at the coffee. She had suggested coffee or the same reason he agreed- if it got awkward, drinking was an option.

“I think I knew deep down the long distance wouldn’t work.”

They had been so naïve to think it would. On the last day, saying goodbye, hope in the hearts and trust in their eyes that the other wouldn’t get distracted.

And he hadn’t broken that trust by doing exactly that.

“I still feel like an ass for doing it. I shouldn’t of.”

She nods, agreeing. Yes, long distance properly wouldn’t have worked regardless but he still didn’t have to mess it all up.

“You were fifteen, Mulder.” She takes a breath, breathes out. “What could we expected?”

He shrugs, half agreeing. “Still no excuses, though, right?”

She cocks her head slightly. “No excuses.”

Seeing her now, he’s still in love with her and he wants to try again but he knows he has to take it slow. He’s broke her heart once, he won’t do it again.

“Scully—” He stops when he notices her smiling.

“What?” he then asks, frowning.

She shakes her head. “Nothing, just…you’re the only person who still calls me that.”

“Oh,” he says slightly embarrassed. “Do you want me to stop?”

Another small shake and a smile. “No…” Then a cough and it’s back to business. “Sorry, what did you want to ask?”

He chuckles slightly at how quickly she can go from being playful to serious in less than a second.

Another thing to love about her.

“Erm…I was wondering if you’d like to make this a regular thing?”

They have three years, don’t they? Three years in this town.

“What, like a date?”

He shrugs. “Would you mind that?”

He watches her think for a moment then shakes her head.

“No,” she says, a bashful smile forming. “I’d like that.”


	12. drunkenly confessing feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Season of Secret Sex]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Less of the drunk more of just confessing feelings.

“I love you.”

_Ah, shit._

Immediately, he’s regretting the words that have just fallen from his mouth unannounced.

They were getting somewhere, moving forward on their feelings for each other and he’s just gone and fucked it up by saying something stupid.

And it shows on Scully’s face.

She had been so smiley, so happy, so ready and then her face had fallen as soon as she heard the words.

He moves away from her, as far as the couch would let him.

“I’m sorry,” he says, sighing and figurately punching himself all over. She doesn’t need to hear that shit.

But she’s there, on her knees by his end of the couch, half naked and trailing kisses up his arm.

For a second he’s confused.

“I know,” she whispers when her mouth makes it way to his ear, her kisses float around that area, lips touching his neck, shoulder, ear.

And Mulder can only be dumbfounded.

He looks at her, surprised.

“You know?”

She smiles, nods, her eyes say it back.

_I love you, too._

_Then why didn’t you fucking say?_

He smiles and the smile turns into a laugh as he pounces on her, drunk on words she didn’t say.

He cushions her head as they fall back on the couch, Scully’s laughter ricocheting off the walls around them.


	13. i need a date for this wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Late season one]

“What’s that?” Mulder asks, nodding to the envelope in Scully’s hands.

“A wedding invitation.”

_Oh._

“To whose wedding?” he asks.

She smiles. “One of my many cousins actually.”

Many cousins isn’t lost on him.

“Are you going to go?”

“I might.”

Mulder nods. He should probably ask more questions, like when is it but he instead passes her a file about a werewolf sighting in Montana.

When the wedding comes up another time Scully is nervous, fidgeting with her fingers in the chair opposite him. Looking at him then looking away as if thinking. It was highly distracting.

“Something wrong?” Mulder asks looking up from his report.

Scully sighs as if resigning herself to what she has to say.

“This might sound strange- and feel free to say no- but,” she takes another breath not looking at him as she says, “I was wondering if you’d like to be my date to this wedding?”

Less than a year he’s known her and he hadn’t thought they would make it to this milestone so soon.

“Is it mandatory you have a date?”

The look on her face is as if he’s just said no and he hasn’t said no, not really.

“Everyone else will have one.”

_And you don’t want to be the odd one out._

“They already joke about my lack of social life. If they see you maybe they won’t say anything.”

Mulder smiles knowing this one too well. He too has had the occasional joke about is work consuming his life too much.

“Okay,” he says, seeing no harm in it. “So what would you need me as- friend? Co-worker?” _Boyfriend_ he thinks but doesn’t add.

“I think friend should be enough,” Scully says with a smile.

Mulder nods, friend is enough.


	14. i think i'm in love with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Memento Mori]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dialogue used in obviously taken from Memento Mori. I changed a sentence because near just seemed to work better than close for me. I also swap the forehead kiss for the deleted? alternative? kiss.

She’d never really journaled before, never sincerely anyway; a few childhood diaries here, some half-written thoughts there. Penny suggested she do it- a way to organise her thoughts.

She spent the beginning of her treatment trying all sorts of methods, posing them as confessions, writing them as stories, not one ever feeling right until the idea of a letter came along.

At first they were written to her mother- a series of apologies and things she never got around to saying. Eventually, somehow, Mulder turned into the subject of her letters. With him, she found herself being able to write more easily, never fishing for the right words in order not to upset someone. With him, she could let her thoughts run wild, say what she wished and it gave her freedom, it really did allow her to think. So she would scribble her thoughts down in her perfect Catholic school script, never doubting what she was saying, never doubling back on her words.

Until she finishes her most recent entry, until she looks upon the words she has just written and realises what she’s just said, just admitted.

_I think I’m in love with you._

The words stare up at him. For a second he’s frozen, unsure whether she has actually written them or does he just so happen to be holding the wrong diary. He’s not, he’s seen her handwriting a thousand times, knows that that perfect Catholic school script belongs to Scully.

He smiles, filled with warmth those words have given him and places the diary back down on the nightstand.

The passages were addressed to him but it still feels intrusive to have read it. Still he can’t let it go unsaid, can’t ignore it, not now, anymore.

He sits on the bench not too far from Penny Northern’s room. In the quietness of the hallway, he waits, hunched over, hands clasped and staring at them.

She’ll exit the room and he’ll tell her. Tell her he read her diary, tell her the truth.

She shuts the door with resolution, a decision made at Penny’s deathbed.

“She gone?”

_Mulder, I feel you near._

He stands before her, looking as solemn as she feels.

She nods her answer at his question, the weight of her grief heavy despite her decision. They had become close, a shared experience like no other could ever come to understand. She’s lost that as much as she’s lost a friend.

She etches closer to perhaps the only other person left who could understand her experience and pain. He is waiting, with open arms that she is now free to fall into, much like she was free to write to him.

“I read some of what you wrote.”

A series of emotions invade her; shame and embarrassment but beneath it all is serenity, calm, one last thing to put to rest.

“I didn’t want you to read that,” she says. It was addressed to him, meant for him but it shouldn’t have been said in this circumstance.

“I decided to throw it out,” she continues, pulling away in order to look up at him. “I decided tonight that I wasn’t going to let this thing beat me. I came into this hospital able to work and that’s how I’m leaving.”

She watches as he nods then hugs him once more because after this, they got back to being partners. After this, no more is said on it.

Mulder holds her tightly, relishing in the moment, feeling guilty for how it’s come about but selfishly savouring it regardless.

It’s his one last chance, his one final moment to tell her the truth. With her head tucked beneath his chin, so small and thin in his arms.

“I think I am, too.”

He can almost feel her process the words, the way her body stiffens briefly before relaxing and when she moves away once more to gaze up at him, to smile up at him, her eyes sure and strong. His Scully has been returned to him.

He smiles himself, bends slightly to near her face, to press his lips against hers.

It’s chaste, nothing beyond the touch of lips, but it’s enough, enough to know that things will change for the better.


	15. fake dating au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [alternative universe]

“Wait. You want me to what?”

Scully sighs, unimpressed with having to repeat her request again.

“I want you to pretend that we’re dating.”

He leans back on the bench, arms swung either side of him, grinning like an idiot and Scully has an urge to punch that grin off his face.

“What do I get out of it?”

Scully scoffs, unbelievable.

“Err…maybe the fact that you get to pretend you’re dating me?”

He’s never hide the fact that he’s wanted to _actually_ date her. Pining after her since the eighth grade, gazing at her from across the classroom, helping her out whenever he could. Mulder thought he was being sneaky about it but Scully- and everyone else- was well aware.

“Why do you want me to pretend I’m dating you?”

She briefly wonders if she should even tell him the truth. It was petty, really.

“Me and Ellen have a bet going. The one who can find a date before we go to college gets the bigger room.”

Ever competitive, Scully wanted the bigger room. She didn’t even need it but she had a need to win and that was currently taking over.

Mulder laughs, loud and obnoxiously that it causes a few parents to look over to them and glare at them.

“So you’re cheating?”

No!

“It’s not cheating!” Scully explains. “It’s…thinking strategically.”

“Okay, cheater,” he looks off to somewhere behind Scully and points. “There’s Ellen now.” Scully turns and sees her friend entering the park. “What you gonna do?”

“I’m going to tell her,” Scully says with a smile on her face at the thought of winning.

She goes to turn and Mulder grabs her hand.

“Or we could show her.”

With that, he pulls her back by her hand and drags her down to his level, claiming her lips with his own.

It all happens so fast that Scully barely has any time to react. It’s over as quickly as it began and when they pull apart, Mulder is smiling.

Well, he certainly got a kick out of that.

“I think the bigger room goes to Scully!” he calls to Ellen.


	16. blurting out a confession of love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Triangle]

“Hey, Scully.”

Scully stops in her tracks on her way to the exit. Despite telling him four times now that he should sleep, she decides to indulge him one last time, going back over to the hospital bed where he waits, propped up on his elbow, looking at her expectantly.

“What?” she asks, close to his face now.

He smiles goofily- or maybe that’s just the medication- his eyes barely able to focus on her.

“I love you.”

She rolls her eyes. So this is what a high- and possibly drunk- Mulder is like. Sappy and lovey.

He’s so pleased with himself, grinning up at her, proud at his proclamation.

Oh, brother.

It’s only when his face falls, that pleased look turning to one of hurt does Scully realise she’s said that aloud.

And she hadn’t meant to say those words, say it out loud, at least but those three words had stung just as much as her words just did.

I follow you onto a ghost ship, Mulder. I nearly lose my job to show you how much I love you. How do you show it? By trusting Diana.

She leaves him with her oh, brother and leaves the hospital room. She was still mad at him for the whole Diana thing- drugged up and giving her that puppy look was never going to change that. Scully wasn’t entirely sure if it ever would.


	17. you're in a coma and i confess all my feelings to you only for you to wake up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [One Breath]

The clock on the wall changes to seventeen minutes past eight. If X was telling the truth, they would be busting through his door right now only there’s nobody waiting for them in the shadows, nobody ready with a gun and a bang.

Mulder looks from the clock to Scully. Gone are the tubes and the tape and the little black balloon. It’s just Scully, a bed, and him.

Her sister had been right- machines weren’t natural. This is natural. This he could kid himself she was just sleeping.

But she wasn’t sleeping, she was dying, lost in a coma with no coherent thought or recognition where she was and the touch of her cold hand reminded Mulder of that, that she was slipping away and he had no idea where to begin.

“Scully, I—” No…he can’t say that, he can’t leave her with that confession, that realisation.

“I don’t know if you can hear me but…I don’t believe you want to go. And you’ve always had the strengths of your beliefs. I don’t know if my being here will help bring you back…But I’m here.”

He brings her hand up to his lips and kisses it. Still holding it beneath his chin, he looks to the clock, watches as it changes to twenty-one minutes past eight at the same time his own hand is squeezed.


	18. blind date set up by friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Alternative Three of a Kind]

Maybe something about that phone call was off. That Mulder’s voice hadn’t sounded quite right. Scully had put it down to being awakened at 3am but the sounded robotic, synthetic, fake; lacking any form of emotion or humour she had gotten used to over the last six years. Most importantly, the voice on the phone hadn’t been Mulder’s.

.:.:.:.:.:.

Mulder thought he was here to investigate a mysterious drug. Scully had told him about it, done the ringing up at 3am for a change, told him to get to Las Vegas and well…who was he to refuse her order?

But Scully wasn’t here (maybe she was just on her way) until Mulder had caught sight of a little toad-like man running down the corridor and that was it, the game was up and Mulder had figured it out.

“Who’s idea was it?” He’d asked after bursting through the door of their motel room.

The Gunmen had guilty looked at him, Frohike looking the most unimpressed with the whole ordeal which just left Byers and Langly.

“It was a joint decision,” Byers tells him.

“Don’t say we don’t do anything for you,” Langly had added.

Mulder hadn’t been surprised when Scully had turned up to a casino in Las Vegas dressed in her work clothes.

.:.:.:.:.:.

“So it was a blind date?” Scully asks. Her face is flushed, hair curling at the ends slightly with the heat, her jacket having been removed, and he’s pretty sure an extra button on her shirt has come undone.

“Definitely seems that way,” Mulder says. In the most Gunmen-way possible. A text-to-speech program of all things.

Scully laughs and it’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard.


	19. "just tell me why you did it" "because i love you, okay!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Fight the Future]

“Mulder, it cost you _how much_?”

“A couple of thousand,” he answers nonchalant.

He sits on a hospital bed with Scully standing before him. She’s only just got her strength back, only just got up and moving. She should calm down and worry about the costs later.

“A couple of thousand,” Scully mutters, exasperated. Her head tips towards the ceiling as she sighs.

“Why did you do it?”

Why did he go all the way to Antarctica.

“To save you,” he answers almost bewildered himself that she was really asking her that. “Because they shouldn’t have taken you, it’s not fair.” He shakes his head. “None of it’s fair.” All the pain he’s caused her; the abduction, death of her sister, the cancer, this. It all just keeps adding and adding and he can’t anymore, he won’t.

Scully sighs once more, looks to be defeated, and sits down beside him.

“Is that all you did it for?” she asks quietly.

It’s his turn to sigh now, to look up at the ceiling exasperated.

“What do you want me to say, Scully?”

She shifts closer to him, he can feel her heat. Her heat is back after all that cold water, all that cold snow. He almost relaxes into it.

“You keep saying about how you want the truth, Mulder.” A pause, a bite of her lip, her eyes look down and around. “I just want your truth,” she tells him. “Just tell me why you did it.”

He turns his head to look at her now, her eyes begging him to be honest to her. She still has ice burns across her face from the snow, is still weak and pale and these are no circumstances to admit this to her but if it’s what she wants then who is he to deny her that?

“I did it because I love you, okay.”

Her eyes shut, a tired _Mulder…_ escapes her but she wanted this, she asked for it.

“I’m telling you the truth, Scully.” And it’s his turn to beg now. “I know it doesn’t seem that way after Diana but I don’t care about her.” He grabs her limb hand, tethering them to each other, forcing her to look at him with a gentle tug. Their eyes meet. “It’s you I care about, you I’d pay thousands of dollars and walk thousands of miles for but I’m so scared of fucking it up. I have fucked it up. So many times.”

It’s out now, the weight lifted, the truth- her truth- found in a tiny hospital in the middle of Antarctica.

His body drops and he slouches. As if knowing what he needs her arms wrap around him, bringing him to her, cradling her like she did in the snow, running her fingers through his hair. He shuts his eyes, breathes her in, gets comfortable.

“You really feel that way, Mulder?”

He nods against her.

She sighs, not one of anger or exasperation but one of sorrow. Her head comes closer to his, her lips kiss his temple and any other exposed skin she can reach before she cuddles him tighter.

“You haven’t fucked it up, Mulder,” she tells him, sounding sincere. “You never have.”


	20. wrapping arms around them when they make breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [unremarkable house timeline]

Their first night in this unremarkable house in the middle of nowhere and Scully wakes up alone.

But it doesn’t scare her like it had done in the various motels in the various states and cities even though then he was just going for a run, just going to the store on the corner because we ran out of food to eat, _he has cabin fever and has to get away from her._ He never said that last one but Scully knew he felt it because she felt it too.

Instead she wakes up unafraid of every corner, she can look into the shadows and not worry about what monster could be lurking there. They have a home, their home, away from monsters and hybrids and the FBI. They weren’t completely hidden from the world but it was a lot safer than motel after motel, a lot safer to wake up alone and know nobody has taken Mulder away from her.

The smell of food filters through the door. Scully’s stomach grumbles at the scent remembering that they hadn’t finished their food last night because Mulder had been more occupied with finally being away from any sort of neighbours. Two years of a suppressed moan, a cry into a pillow or his hand or her own was finally let free last night without consequence.

She pulls the covers away from her body and picks up grey t-shirt. With their stuff still to be unpacked (which she made Mulder promise they would do today, actually) she finds her discarded panties from the night before and slips them on.

Mulder is near the oven when she enters the kitchen, seeming to be lost in his own world as he doesn’t hear her come in.

His back to her and bare, she sees the tale of his life splayed out in front of her- a gunshot scar here, a slice scar there. All the scuffles he found himself in with monsters and suspects and even the gunshot wound she gave him herself, is a reminder of their past.

She approaches him slowly, touches his back with a gentle “it’s me,” so as not to startle him. He still stiffens anyway, still caught off guard but relaxes immediately when he realises who it is.

Scully wraps her arms around him, interlocking her hands at his stomach and shuts her eyes.

“Did I wake you up?” Mulder asks leaning back into her.

She shakes her head. “No,” she verbally answers. She begins a trail of kisses all around his back, only ending when she reaches the scar on his shoulder.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” she says.

Mulder chuckles slightly. “I promise you, Scully, there’ll be no more takeout’s for us anymore.”

She hums her approval though not really caring what they eat.

“You also made a promise that we would unpack today, too.”

He makes a noise as if thinking- or pretending to think.

“Nah, tomorrow.”

Scully smiles at that then moves away from him to the counter and hoists herself up.

“You could have least made me some coffee,” she says when the absence of one becomes clear to her.

“I’m making you food,” Mulder says, motioning towards said food with his head. “That’s all you’re getting out of me.”


	21. cuddling in comfortable silence before murmuring "i love you"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [The truth]

Words could not describe how grateful she was to have him back in her arms. The circumstances weren’t ideal but if being on the run is what it meant to always keep him in her sight, to always be able to wrap her arms around him, hold him tight, and never a day spent worrying if he’s still alive, Scully wouldn’t hesitate to change it.

His eyes are closed but she knows he’s not asleep yet. Legs entwined- unable to tell where one begins and the other ends, faces millimetres away from touching. Scully rubs her nose against his and watches as a smile breaks out across Mulder’s face, his arms tightening around her, pulling her closer so they have no excuse but to touch. She kisses his nose once then twice before snuggling into him, tucking herself beneath his chin and breathing him in.

_He's here and he’s alive._ And that’s all that matters.

“I love you,” she murmurs her own eyes now closed. Wrapped up in the safety of his arms she has no reason to worry, for the first time in years she’s calm inside.

“Love you…” Mulder mutters back, half asleep but it still has warmth running through her, filling her up regardless.


	22. help me im being hit on at a bar please be a fake boyfriend for a second

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [College AU]

They weren’t in the best of places to say the least. Which was a shame because Mulder had a found a good one in Scully. Years running after Phoebes and Dianas- people who would just use and abuse him, Scully was an angel brought to him in the form of a tiny package of adorableness with freckles he spent endless nights counting and naming, red curls that were messy and unruly because she hadn’t had time to do it today and countless round glasses because she kept losing them (or that one pair he broke because he sat on them but he doesn’t talk about that)

But Scully was too good to be true, too good for him. His attentions were always elsewhere- not towards other girls- but always looking at the sky, ignorant of her needs because hacking government websites with his friends was more important than Friday Movie Night on the rare nights Scully was actually free.

And that, ultimately, is what ended their relationship.

Well, not ended completely, simply “put on pause” had been the words Scully had used. Mulder had taken it as ended.

Sick of him moping around, those same friends had dragged him to a bar with the promise of getting him drunk, getting him laid, and helping him forget Scully.

Neither of those things had worked out yet. Except maybe the first because Mulder was definitely tipsy.

Drinking wasn’t always the best option for Mulder. A toss of a coin; heads- he’s affectionate, tails- he’s miserable.

The gods chose miserable tonight.

Langly is talking about a future campaign and Mulder finds himself wholly uninterested. His eyes wander over to the commotion at the bar- a lot more interesting than his friends’ conversation- and wonders if he is completely sloshed because that same little red-head, the one wearing those tight little jeans that make her ass look fantastic and instantly give him a hard-on, the one he is meant to be forgetting about is standing at the bar.

She’s with her friends, no doubt. For the same reasons he is? No, that’s not Scully. She doesn’t mope when bad things happen, unlike him. She’s resilient, able to get up and move on. She’s here to have fun.

He thinks about leaving. The longing he feels watching her is almost too much to bear but his second drink remains virtually untouched and to go would make his friends wonder why. One look over to the bar and they would know.

Instead Mulder stays glued to his seat, unwanting to stay but unable to go. He was too caught up gazing at Scully that he just about realises that she’s talking to another person, another boy, and breaks often mean allowing the other to sleep with another person, without consequence and judgement but Mulder can’t help but want to turn his face away, his heart deflating at how flirty and friendly she is with this person who has no right to her, because she is his.

But she isn’t. And that sadness consumes him, a dark pit forming in his stomach, the beer churning unpleasantly inside. He wants to turn that sadness into anger, call her every derogatory insult he can think of; _bitch_ , _slut_ , _whore_ but also he can’t. He can’t because that’s the same person he’s called _gorgeous_ , _beautifu_ l, and _lovely_. Because those three former words aren’t what she is. Because who is he to deny her attention once again?

But when he looks away from the boy, with his smarmy smile, and hands itching to touch her, back to Scully he notices how unhappy she looks, how uncomfortable- her eyes searching around, lingering somewhere at the back, calling out for her friends maybe?

_Calling out for help._

Scully doesn’t want this boy anywhere near her.

Mulder’s up and out of his seat before he even realises himself. He knocks the table some point on his way up, he knows this because his knee hurts and his friends have stopped talking.

“Where are you going?” he hears Byers ask.

“To get another drink,” he excuses immediately.

“You’ve barely touched the one we got you forty minutes ago,” Langly says though at this point Mulder doesn’t response, he’s moved away, heading towards the bar.

An opening is made just in time, somebody moves out of the way and it lands him right next to Scully. She doesn’t see him, her back to him but Mulder looks towards her unwanted companion and see’s he’s busy collecting his drink.

He taps her side, twice, their secret code along with three knocks on the door.

“You alright?” he asks when she turns to look at him. His elbows are against the bar, he’s leaning down, he doesn’t think the boy can see him.

She looks surprised to see him but quickly recovers.

“Not really,” she says looking miserable. “He’s been trying to hit on me all night. I told him my boyfriend was on the way.”

The look of pleading in her eyes tells him enough. With all his might he doesn’t smirk, to be a gentleman, to do her a favour.

They’re still on a break.

He stands up to his full height, almost towering over everyone at the bar. The other boy is concentrating paying and Mulder puts his hands on Scully’s hips.

And God do they know they belong there. He barely believe he’s touching her again, his brain on constant repeat: _you’re doing her a favour, you’re doing her a favour_.

And yes, he’s doing her a favour but if this is the last time he gets to touch her like this, he’s going to make it last, going to get something out of it.

So when the boy turns to resume talking to Scully, Mulder pulls her into him, his lips descending on hers. It’s not gentle at all, it’s one of possession, his tongue invading her mouth upon contact. He’s taking it too far, he knows, but Christ he’s missed kissing her like this, missed kissing her at all.

One hand climbs up to her hair, keeping her there, the other onto her ass, pulling her even closer.

It takes everything he has but he needs to, he forces her eyes open and stares directly at the other boy’s.

And it was worth it. The other boy seems dumbstruck for a moment, a look of jealousy in there too, and a hint of sadness that she isn’t his.

_That’s right, fucker, she’s mine_ , he thinks.

They pull away, probably when the needs for air becomes too much, and she’s smiling at him, her once red lips swollen.

_I did that_ , he thinks gleefully, never sick of the sight.

He takes her hand, interlocking their fingers, just another thing that fits so well.

“You ready to go home, baby?” he asks looking at her.

“Sure,” she says and she pulls him away from the bar.

When they’re out of sight of the boy, he stands off to the side so she can get her bag, say bye to her friends. He doesn’t even bother with his and when she returns, he follows her out.

“I meant what I said, Scully,” Mulder says once they are outside, the cool night air hitting their skin. “We can go home.”

It’s not an I _can take you home_ , it’s a _We can go home_. After that kiss, after his hands on her body he never wants them anywhere else again.

But Scully is, as should be, apprehensive. She plays with the strap of her bag.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to do that, Mulder,” she says. “It was mean.”

He knew he shouldn’t have tried to push his luck, should’ve just offered to take her home. He kicks the ground, a rock on the gravel.

“I’ll do right this time, Scully.” He knows he’s pleading, begging. “Please, just give me a second chance.”

Her attention is diverted to the bar doors opening again, a couple stumble out, no older than Freshmen. They are drunk and in love, stumbling around the place and laughing as they do so.

That was them once, Mulder muses. Having got in early enough before security arrive, drinking alcohol they sneaked in, and stumbling out ready to rip each other’s clothes off in the nearest alleyway- one time they did.

“Are you drunk, Mulder?” Scully asks, turning her attention away from the couple and back to him.

“Not anymore.” _Only on you._

“We need to talk, then.”

She starts walking ahead and Mulder follows. They don’t touch, they don’t speak but it’s a start, a chance at a second go.


	23. painting the house that ends in a paint fight and giggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ABIF Universe]

“He likes boats. Draw him some little sailboats like you did with Emily’s sunflowers.”

They stand in the middle of Arthur’s barren bedroom. Sam’s bedroom, the guest room barely anyone used now it was about to have a purpose.

The painting ladder against the wall, paint pots littered around the room, plastic covering the floor. Twelve years ago, Scully had the energy for this but now at twenty-eight years old that energy has gone along with being nineteen.

“Do you want to draw the little sailboats?” she asks Mulder, a little bit snappy with him. This wasn’t supposed to be today’s job but at the same age, Arthur seems to have followed in Emily’s footsteps. All the way to their bed every morning.

“Fine, don’t draw them,” says Mulder sounding a little defensive. “But you can deal with him when he wonders why his big sister got hand-drawn sunflowers off Mommy while he gets a,” he picks up one of the paint pots. “Sky blue room.”

Scully sighs. She could do it, they have the colours needed for it. She could plug in the radio, get rid of Mulder and paint some little sailboats.

“Well then,” she begins, grabbing the paint and a paintbrush. “You better start painting then.”

.:.:.:.:.

With the attention span of a spoon it doesn’t take Mulder long to get bored. With a wall almost painted, he creeps up towards her, holding a paintbrush in his hand and leans against the part of the wall she thankfully still has to paint.

Scully gives a glance to his own wall finding less of it to be painted than hers.

“Don’t you have a wall to paint, Mulder?” she asks making sure not to look at him.

“I suppose I do but erm…” he creeps more towards her, Scully keeps her attention on the wall. “You seem to have a bit of paint on you, Scully.” And with that he swipes the paintbrush against her cheek.

Scully barely has time to react, feel of the cold wet liquid against her skin has her realising what he’s just done.

“Mulder!” she cries out and all Mulder can do is laugh.

On impulse she fruitily attempts to wipe the substance off and only succeeds in smearing it across her face.

But it does something to lift her mood rather than just straight pissing her off.

She dips her own brush into the paint and Mulder knows what’s coming. He doesn’t move just continues to smirk.

“Well,” says Scully, acting all coy and edging nearer. “Looks like you got some, too.” She smears the paint from his right cheek and up over his nose.

“I guess if you’re gonna do that.” He picks up the pot.

“Mulder, no!” Scully exclaims, flinching towards the corner but Mulder does it anyway, ready to slosh the paint over her.

And it falls pitifully to the floor. When Scully realises she’s not covered in paint she opens her eyes and looks down at the blue puddle on the floor.

“We just had enough,” she says looking at Mulder. “You can go back down to Home Depot and buy some more.”

She heads out of the room and towards the bathroom intending on cleaning herself up. Mulder follows her.

“You know, we should have a real paint fight one day.”

In the process of wiping the paint off her cheek she throws him a look.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she says. “Now come here.”

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

She waits around the corner, covered in blue and yellow and green. They already got her three times and Scully will be damned if she lets them get her a fourth time.

She can hear Emi giggling, knows they’re close. She counts to three then jumps around the corner.

Emily is the only one there and she runs away when Scully has her paint out ready to squirt it at her. Distracted by her daughter’s running, she doesn’t see the bucket of paint that falls down her, completely covering in sky blue.

She hears Emily laughing a bit away and when she looks up, Mulder is hanging out of the window, almost falling out of it with laughter.

“That’s what I meant to do when we were painting Arthur’s room.”

Scully shakes her head, unimpressed with their sneaky strategies.

“I fucking hate you, Mulder!”

“Language, Dana.”


	24. everyone thinks i should stay away from you because you're dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Around I Want To Believe]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh...this is dark.

She’s warm against his chest; a heavy, comfortable weight reminding him that, while the day’s are long, he’s not alone, there’s always somebody on their way home.

Every day she asks him if he’s going to be okay; _It’s a long shift, are you sure?_ and every answer is always the same.

_I’ll be fine._

She’s asleep and he’s wide awake, his hand idly stroking through her hair. He’s been doing it so for the last half an hour and what makes him change his course he’s unsure. His hand wraps around the back of her neck, her scar resting beneath his palm. His grip tightens, she makes a little sound and frowns, moving her head a little against him.

He could kill her.

Nobody would know, either. He could wrap both hands around her neck and break it, could strangle her. He’s killed before.

.:.:.:.:.:.

It’s a thought that doesn’t go away.

It rests when there’s nobody else at home, when he’s just wandering the rooms for something to do but it awakens when the front door opens, when she smiles at him tiredly from across the threshold.

It’s there at night, when he’s pounding into her a lot more forcefully than usual. His hand will move from the pillow or from her wrist and will rest at the base of her throat. She will look at him with so much trust in her big, blue, lively eyes and he will tamper the urge to laugh, will silently ask her: _Why do you trust me so much?_

.:.:.:.:.:.

He asks it eventually. Over breakfast before she leaves.

“Why do you trust me?”

She’s taken aback by the question at first. He’s been silent most days, this is the first he’s spoken.

“I guess because we have a shared trauma. It can bond people.”

He nods like she hasn’t really answered his question.

“I’ve killed people.”

She shrugs like that doesn’t matter.

“So have I.”

But you don’t have thoughts of killing me, do you?

Scully knows the name for all the bones in the neck, she told him once on the phone when he couldn’t sleep and just wanted to listen to her voice until he did.

She knows the names and, in his dreams, he breaks every single one of them.


	25. Spin The Bottle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [High School AU: My forte]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've had a few bumps, fics, and nasty anons since the last chapter hence the long break but I think I'm back now, ready to get these fics up daily again. 
> 
> (find me on tumblr as sculleepup)

It’s a stupid game; one she didn’t really want to partipate in to begin with but everyone was playing and Ellen had dragged her towards the group, proclaiming something about “Don’t you want to me considered cool?”

No, I just want to be me.

But the drinks were flowing and Dana felt herself starting to relax. With each spin of the bottle, the spectacle of watching two drunken strangers kiss became less awkward and she began to enjoy herself.

Until the time came to spin it herself. The alcohol doesn’t quite numb the apprehension but people are looking at her, waiting, beside her, Ellen gives her a nudge with a whisper of, Go on.

Dana bites the bullet and spins the bottle, watching as it twirls around and in her tipsy state makes her feel much dizzier than normal.

It starts slowing down when the bottle end is pointing opposite her. She scans the people, picking and choosing who she’d want to swap spit him. Yes to him, no to her, definitely yes to her…definitely no to him. She’s distracted and almost misses who the bottle points at.

A boy who sits in the shadows, his legs crossed in front of him, his hand tapping against his knee in boredom.

“The Ice Queen gets to kiss Spooky!” somebody shouts.

The old nickname has her wanting to slink into her own shadows. Her head down and a blush running across her cheeks, she makes eye contact with Fox Mulder through her fringe.

Mulder shrugs at her, his eyes telling her It’s just a dumb game. They’ll forget it all in the morning. And it calms her, has her heart beating a little slower.

The circle isn’t that big, she only needs to move a few steps before their faces are inches away from each other. He breathes out and she can smell the cheap high school alcohol on his breath.

His eyes are still reassuring, calming her and tying her to the ground. Her arms outstretched on the floor just away from her, his finger brushes the skin of her inner wrist. Dana gasps at the contact, her eyes flying down to where he continues to move his finger in smooth, soothing circles.

A little smile escapes when she looks back up before her eyes move to her lips.

The other had full make-out sessions but there was no rules. She wouldn’t get away with a quick peck, she knows that much, but she also doesn’t have to spend thirty minutes sucking his face off. Somebody already did that and they got told to get a room.

She’s not sure who actually intitates it but it lasts longer than she intended to. She’s not kissed many boys in her life and she definitely hasn’t made-out with any but with her lips touching Fox Mulder’s something just felt…right. Fireworks go off in her stomach, her lips parting to make way for his tongue and his vice versa for hers. The finger that was rubbing against her wrists stops and that hand finds its way up to the space between his neck and shoulder, fingers splaying against the start of his neck.

She feels his hand in her hair, holding her to him, never letting her go even for air.

The game and the people and the party all disappear and it’s just her and him and their wet mouths against each other.

It’s only when Roy Roydon loudly exclaims that We’ve got another pair! That they pull away.

The room and the situation all comes back to Dana and she looks around with her face going bright red.

Her head tucked away, she recedes back into her spot and Mulder back into the shadows as the game continues.

“Not bad, _Ice Queen_ ,” Ellen whispers beside her, impressed.

Dana elbows her in the side all the while her eyes locked on Spooky Mulder.


End file.
